The Championships also received the support of a myriad of local sponsors

Palmerston North, New Zealand, May 28, 2013 - This year’s National Secondary Schools Championships – an open volleyball championship tournament organised by Volley New Zealand (VNZ) in Palmerston North – was a resounding success with 143 teams coming together to compete for the title.

The tournament is New Zealand’s largest indoor schools event and has developed a reputation of excellence in delivery with its professional management structure. Referee courses are also held nationwide in the months leading up the tournament to ensure high standards of competition.

Local community feedback has been overwhelming positive as the format and structure of the event has been consistent over the past years so all schools/teams are aware of their responsibilities.

Teams play in grades of 32 teams, reducing to divisions of 16 teams after pool rounds. The play two games a day and provide duty teams and referees for game each day.

A new feature of this year’s tournament was the live streaming of matches, in particular the semis and the final. To this end VNZ employed the services of live stream manager who provided real time coverage of Division 1 court match (four courts), the semi-finals and finals. In all there were 2,000 people who watched the matches, including spectators from outside New Zealand.

Volleyball New Zealand is committed to building on the popularity of the tournament and to improving the product through new initiatives added each year.